blender is complicated and confusing for newbs this way, you know with all the nameing and parenting vetice groups..

also In the game engine there's some severe bugs that need to be fixed like object parent to bone... I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed?
it would probabley be easy the function works out of the game engine but not in Game...

I used Kinemation pre-Maya its what Maya was based on..
Skin assignment was done like this, you have skin groups.. Select a
bone, the skin groups that are assigned to that bone appear bright
of a color, everything else is darkened, to select skin groups for the bone you would have to special select points ont he mesh.. It woudl assign skin
to those bones.. At the joints you would place lattices (aligned ot the joints), the lattices deform the mesh aligned to the joints, you can select the amont of deformation by adjusting how the joints drive flexor deformation (flexors = lattices). You could also set for specific joint rotations in the X, Y and Z how much the flexor is deformed,
flexors could also be assigned to bones and driven by joints, the flexor
deforms the skin after the bone displaces/deforms it..

Alias 8 added in support for deformation of meshes by using something like relative keys by tieing the deformation to the joint rotations..
If you bend your elbow, the biceps grow, so you could setup relative vertex keys to show how the muscle flexes, you tie the deformation (via relative vertex keys) to the joint rotation of the elbow. This is how Alias
8 does skin deformation according to joint rotations (relatively easy,
you can even adjust the amount of inlfuence a relative vertex key
has over skin deformation by plotting a envelope ina graph of
joint rotation to amount of influence, each enevelope (or waveform)
is associated with the amount a relative vertex key is applied..

Combine the two together and add in sticky end effectors (like keyframing a target for an end effector without keyframing it,
you can get your character to hold a position by keeping certain
end effectors set (sticky) in space, other end effectors are
allowed to move freely.. In Blender or Alias 8, you would
set keyframes for wrists and feet (head of the timeline) to keep
them still while you adjust other keyframes.. The advantage of sticky
handles is you can pose a character without setting keyframes,
you temporarily pin the character down with temporary keyframes..
Then you have the choice of either setting keyframes for all end effectors or dee-stickying the handles.. This feature exists in Maya and it
existed in Kinemation..

I think it would be easier to implement the relative vertex key concept
allong with the dependence on joint rotations as a source of animation for
the relative vertex keys in a body.. It would be like controlling
facial animation with IPO curves, but the timeline is not
time but rotations of a joint..

Then you can implement concepts like muscular constriction/expansion
without having to implement puffers or use lattices (flexors) which
can be quite complex.. Flexors are great for rounding of skin
on joints..

The way I did my thorax animation was all hand
controlled with sticky handles and a handle for the
toe and knee of my bug.. To move a bug I could
sticky all leg, select moving legs and body root joint,
move that forward, set a keyframe for all, select the alternate legs,
select the root joint, move, set keyframe, and so on.. To make the
animation more fluid, I could go back and raise the legs for
alternating sets of legs.. That's essentially how I did my
thorax animation available on my website at www.bl3nder.com .

I would love to have sticky handles and joint driven relative vertex keys in blender, but I suppose it will take time for such things to make it to blender..

blender is complicated and confusing for newbs this way, you know with all the nameing and parenting vetice groups..

also In the game engine there's some severe bugs that need to be fixed like object parent to bone... I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed?
it would probabley be easy the function works out of the game engine but not in Game...

I used Kinemation pre-Maya its what Maya was based on..
Skin assignment was done like this, you have skin groups.. Select a
bone, the skin groups that are assigned to that bone appear bright
of a color, everything else is darkened, to select skin groups for the bone you would have to special select points ont he mesh.. It woudl assign skin
to those bones.. At the joints you would place lattices (aligned ot the joints), the lattices deform the mesh aligned to the joints, you can select the amont of deformation by adjusting how the joints drive flexor deformation (flexors = lattices). You could also set for specific joint rotations in the X, Y and Z how much the flexor is deformed,
flexors could also be assigned to bones and driven by joints, the flexor
deforms the skin after the bone displaces/deforms it..

Alias 8 added in support for deformation of meshes by using something like relative keys by tieing the deformation to the joint rotations..
If you bend your elbow, the biceps grow, so you could setup relative vertex keys to show how the muscle flexes, you tie the deformation (via relative vertex keys) to the joint rotation of the elbow. This is how Alias
8 does skin deformation according to joint rotations (relatively easy,
you can even adjust the amount of inlfuence a relative vertex key
has over skin deformation by plotting a envelope ina graph of
joint rotation to amount of influence, each enevelope (or waveform)
is associated with the amount a relative vertex key is applied..

Combine the two together and add in sticky end effectors (like keyframing a target for an end effector without keyframing it,
you can get your character to hold a position by keeping certain
end effectors set (sticky) in space, other end effectors are
allowed to move freely.. In Blender or Alias 8, you would
set keyframes for wrists and feet (head of the timeline) to keep
them still while you adjust other keyframes.. The advantage of sticky
handles is you can pose a character without setting keyframes,
you temporarily pin the character down with temporary keyframes..
Then you have the choice of either setting keyframes for all end effectors or dee-stickying the handles.. This feature exists in Maya and it
existed in Kinemation..

I think it would be easier to implement the relative vertex key concept
allong with the dependence on joint rotations as a source of animation for
the relative vertex keys in a body.. It would be like controlling
facial animation with IPO curves, but the timeline is not
time but rotations of a joint..

Then you can implement concepts like muscular constriction/expansion
without having to implement puffers or use lattices (flexors) which
can be quite complex.. Flexors are great for rounding of skin
on joints..

The way I did my thorax animation was all hand
controlled with sticky handles and a handle for the
toe and knee of my bug.. To move a bug I could
sticky all leg, select moving legs and body root joint,
move that forward, set a keyframe for all, select the alternate legs,
select the root joint, move, set keyframe, and so on.. To make the
animation more fluid, I could go back and raise the legs for
alternating sets of legs.. That's essentially how I did my
thorax animation available on my website at www.bl3nder.com .

I would love to have sticky handles and joint driven relative vertex keys in blender, but I suppose it will take time for such things to make it to blender..